Within the Millennium Puzzle
by katerinaaqu
Summary: A small "tour" inside the Millennium Puzzle from Yami's POV... Please review


Aibou calls me back. Another duel is over. Another victory for us… I smile at my Aibou next to me, and he smiles back. He wants me to retreat back into the Puzzle now…so I can get some rest. Aibou…you always think of others more than yourself… In any case I do as he wishes. The Puzzle glows and I feel its warm light take me… When I open my eyes I am back to my chamber. My Soul Room. I smile a small yet bitter smile.

"Home, sweet home…" I whisper to myself

I am aware of the fact no one is there with me and no one can hear me. My voice travels on the countless stonewalls around me. I look upwards. The only thing I see is an endless labyrinth of walls and doors. My Soul Room…the place I slept for 3000 years in. This is something I cannot explain. I cannot explain why all these doors are here or why my Soul Room looks like this. I have seen my Aibou's Soul Room. It is open to everyone, shows no malice. It is full with shattered toys…stuffed animals…children's puzzles…toy soldiers of those can be found in Christmas boxes… However mine…mine is different. It is like the polar opposite of his. The door is always closed, closed to everyone, to every intruder. Inside the door the only thing exists is…this maze of doors and walls… I look around. Some of the doors are not unknown to me.

I walk a bit further. The room of my soul…the reflection of my heart. A place where everyone is being tested by the moment he or she enters this forbidden place… I keep walking. I have nothing to be afraid of. I am the only real resident of this maze. The sound of my shoes clacking on the stone floors is the only sound that breaks this dead silence. My levanter eyes are looking left and right. I start walking up to one of the million stairs inside the Puzzle. I open a door only to find myself into a maze of more doors. Fifty more doors have appeared before me… I keep a straight face and walk further. I know this door on my left…it is a trap door…I leave the third door on my right, it leads nowhere… I open one of them to find myself in a bigger maze.

After I walk for a couple of minutes I decide to sit to one of the many stairs to rest a bit. From my sitting position I look up. So many doors…so many paths… The maze is complicated even for me. The doors have no specific place… The staircases have no real position… I can even see staircases that are upside down. I am fully aware of the fact that I probably have walked those stairs once or twice in the past…or maybe not… I sigh deeply. Even my thoughts turn around in circles in this place. I stand up and keep walking.

When I am not with Aibou this is what I do. This room, no, this world is actually part of me and I have some kind of control of it but…this place is unknown even to me. It has so many secrets from me. It keeps changing…this maze keeps changing. The doors change place every day…every minute. I stop my wandering into the endless corridors and paths and close my eyes… I'm listening… It is almost unnoticed. I can barely fee it just because I am part of this world… Yes… Barely, but I can feel it…

_Thump…a-thump… Thump…a-thump… Thump…a-thump…_

I place my palm over my chest… Yes…I can feel it… It is the soft, steady pulse of my heart. I touch the wall beside me… I feel it. It is as if the wall has a small, a tiny stone heart somewhere in it and it is beating in absolute harmony with my own.

"Maybe…it isn't my own either…" I whisper to myself…

I sometimes do this. I speak to myself in this maze…and I hear the sound of my voice echoing into the emptiness of the corridors. The heels of my shoes echo to the floor as I keep on my way… Anyone could have thought that I have some control over this place… Yes, indeed I do, but this place has more secrets from me than it gives me help… If I had to create an analogy, I would say that in evry corridor I know one out of fifty doors. I can control the moving of the stairways with simply a snap of my fingers. I can illuminate the way with one thought of mine. I can even choose what kind of trap to put behind which door however the greatest part of this labyrinth has its own will… It reflects my heart…the mess in my empty head… I snap my fingers and one door appears before me. I open it and step in. I see a new "room" with countless others. Which door should I open today? That, perhaps?

My fingers close around the doorknob and I slowly open the door. When Aibou and I do not talk, I have all the time I want to explore my Soul Room. I have the impression that there is something, into one of these doors that can give me the answers I seek. However the problem is I have no other clue but this simple hunch. I do not know where that door might be, nor what I am supposed to face once I find it.

My heels are softly echoing to the walls as I am walking. I am used to this loneliness. I spend my time alone in the Puzzle when I am not out with my friends. I take a look around. I see the door that works as a connection with the outside world to me. In other words I can open it and if I look inside I can see what my Aibou is doing, I can see the world through his eyes when I am resting in the Puzzle. I smile a small smile as I think. My Aibou… I wish I understood him better. It is funny if you think about it. We share the same body, the same thoughts and the same feelings but sometimes I cannot understand him. As I recall many of the duels we've been through together, I remember he used to show mercy even to our worst enemies…

I remember Pandora… That man went half-mad when he lost his lover and joined forces with Marik. He dueled us handcuffed with a blade constantly coming towards us as long as we lost Life Points. Even I, kind of, sympathized him for the mental state he had ended up at but still… When he lost I had no regrets. I remained there, watching the blade coming close to him… Even one strange thought crept to my mind; maybe it would be better that way. His pain and madness would end if his leg-veins were cut and he bled to death. I had no regrets and no sorrow as I stood there, watching him struggling in his madness caused by the Millennium Rod controlled by Marik. However Aibou…Aibou is a different story. He took over his body just a moment after the blade had touched Pandora's leg and grabbed the key and in a heroic attempt he unlocked the cuffs from Pandora's ankles, saving his life…

How can he do this? How can he be so…self-sacrificing even when it comes to those who tried to hurt him? Those who tried to kill him? It took me some time, and Ishizu's pleading, to even start forgiving Marik for what he did, but Yugi had actually started to understand him right away. Sometimes I cannot understand where he finds so much space in his heart and so he leaves no one outside…No one. Friend or foe. I sometimes wish I could do what he does. Even if it is not in my character to forget old harm, to be honest I don't WANT to forget. I do not want to lose more memories. Right now I am determined to find them all good or bad, no matter what memories they are, I want them back. And I will not allow myself to forget any of the new memories I built here with my friends. Good or bad I will treasure them all…I will find them all.

I smile softly and I keep on walking. I haven't made much process I must admit. Even after the endless hours inside the Puzzle I haven't managed to find THAT door that will lead me to the truth…the truth about myself. I stop for a second and close my eyes. Then I feel it… Sounds overflowing around me as if traveling through the stone walls that are enclosing me… And I hear them…the voices…

"_Good night, Jii-chan!" _

_"Good night…Yugi"_

I smile as I keep my eyes closed. It is as if I see the image through Aibou's eyes. He waves his Grandpa goodnight and then he heads upstairs. In the mid-way he meets his mother.

_"Good night, Yugi!" _

_"Good night, Mama"_

He then heads upstairs to his small room. He makes a stop to the bathroom to wash his teeth and then enters the small room. He takes his clothes off and places his pajamas on. Last but not least, removes the Millennium Puzzle off his neck. He gets hold of it a little and smiles.

_"Good night, Other Me…"_

That's what he whispers and places the Puzzle next to him to the night table. He then switches the lights off and lies under the bed sheets.

"Good night…Aibou…" I whisper from my standing spot and I re-open my eyes

I smile again. So he went to sleep…my Aibou… So now I have a few hours for search around a little more… However…here it is again. That strange feeling that I am being watched. I cannot explain the reason but I have the impression someone is lurking from the shadows right somewhere around…behind me perhaps. I turn around once sharply.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" I demand right away in a loud voice

My voice echoes around and no reply will come. My imagination again? Perhaps. I cannot be sure… In any case I ignore the feeling that is still there, pressing on my chest like a rock.

* * *

><p>I enter to yet another corridor and I step inside a large and long room. I know this place. It is a place full with stone tablets, with monsters engraved in them. The monsters Aibou and I used to our battles even for once… I walk past some of them. I stop before the stone tablet that has Kuriboh's form engraved to it. I touch its rough, cool surface almost tenderly. I close my eyes and I smile gratefully to this little fellow that lent me its strength more times than I can count. Even if others thought it was weak and 'useless' I could see how valuable it was. I dare to say Kuriboh saved me more times than I can count. Where do I start? The duel against Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon? The duel against Pegasus's Shadow Game? Or perhaps the one against Obelisk the Tormentor?<p>

I pat the stone tablet softly as if I desire to pet him and tell him how grateful I am… I know it is not much or enough…but it is all I can do for now… And so many other monsters are here… So many other friends and allies I had in so many duels; Gaia the Fierce Knight, Celtic Guardian, King's Knight, Jack's Knight, Queen's Knight, Curse of Dragon…

They are so many…how can I ever name them all? How can I ever thank them all for what they did for my Aibou and me when we needed them? And I decided to enclose their memories here, at this very room of my Heart so I can treasure them always… And here they are, protecting this chamber…

I hear a thud behind me as if someone's clothes are flowing in the air… I turn around and smile. It is Dark Magician. My most loyal creature…my most favorite monster. I still cannot explain the connection I feel with this monster. It is as if our bonds have lasted over thousands of years but I cannot explain the hunch… When I look up into Dark Magician's blue eyes I feel like…he knows about this too. But he is not telling me. He won't. It is as if his eyes are telling me to be patient. To find it out on my own.

In any case he is looking at me now. I know he recognizes me. He is guarding me.

"Hello" I say with a smile, "I hope I haven't disturbed your sleep"

He is silent. But his eyes are telling me

_"No, Master. I am always honored by your presence here"_

"No" I say right away, "I am the one who is honored to be here. I am the one who feels the dept to you and your help to every duel"

He doesn't speak once more. But his eyes are the most talkative. It is as if I can read them like an open book, in the connection in our hearts.

_"Master, I am your eternal Servant. I am at your dept, always…"_

"What dept? If it weren't of you I might have been to the Shadows years now. You saved me, Aibou…the others more times than I can count… More times than I can actually repay you for... Why, though, Dark Magician? What have I done to deserve someone as loyal as you? What have I done to deserve such loyalty?"

And there his eyes reply again…

_"I always fight by your side… I always have and I always will…"_

I smile. I know I will take the same answer. I am grateful, though to him.

"Thank you, Dark Magician… I will leave now and let you rest…" I say and I start walking outside…

I manage to see Dark Magician disappearing into his Stone Tablet again… I walk to the other side of the room and open the door to the exit. I walk out of it and close the door behind me…

* * *

><p>I walk a bit further till I reach one more door. I searched enough for tonight. The sun will be risen soon… I snap my fingers and one door appears before me. I open it and slowly step in. It is another empty room. It has nothing more but empty walls and empty floor. It has the shape of a small, square box. I step in with no fear and close the door behind me. As a Spirit I do not need sleep really. But sometimes I drift to a hibernation-like sleep when I spent 3000 years in here or when Aibou doesn't need me. It is…convenient to say the very least. It is indeed lonely sometimes. And I have nothing…not even memories to think in the nights…and I have spent many nights here… 3000 years…who can count how many nights it is…?<p>

I walk in and sit down to the empty floor. I find a position that will make me feel more comfortable even on the stone-hard floor. I end up to a semi-fetal position with my palm under my cheek as a pillow. I let my eyes close and I breathe out a sigh of relief and perhaps fatigue if it can be called that way… I leave my thoughts, my doubts fly out of my head… Soon the dreamless sleep takes over me…like death…

* * *

><p><strong>I do not know where this idea came from but... Here it is, a small fic from Yami's Point of View when he enters the Puzzle.<strong>  
><strong>I was always wondering, how Yami was inside the Puzzle when Yugi and the others were outside? If Yugi and the others felt that way in the Puzzle then what about Yami who practically exists in there?<strong>

**So here it is what I came up with. A small "tour" inside the Puzzle from Yami's point of view. Yugi had said that the Puzzle Maze has secrets even from Yami himself so I kept that clue and I made this. Yami has control over the labyrinth but up to some point... The rest of it is a mystery to him...**  
><strong>The room Yami entered was the same room Shaadi and Yugi entered at that episode after the Duelist Kingdom end.<strong>  
><strong>Also the presense Yami feels to be following him is no one else but the Soul Fragment Yami Bakura put there to explore the Puzzle. Yami feels him from time to time but Bakura knows how to hide!<strong>

**The last scene with Yami sleeping on the floor of the Puzzle was inspired by a pic I had found on the Internet long time ago...**  
><strong>I know I use the words "The shoes are echoing" and stuff but in that way I am giving emphasis to the emtiness of the Puzzle...<strong>

**Anyway I hope you like it. Please no flames Please comment and Enjoy!**


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